Sour gas

Although the terms acid gas and sour gas are used interchangeably, strictly speaking, a sour gas is any gas that contains hydrogen sulfide in significant amounts, whereas an acid gas is any gas that contains significant amounts of acidic gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) or hydrogen sulfide. Thus, carbon dioxide by itself is an acid gas but it is not a sour gas.

Before a raw natural gas containing hydrogen sulfide and/or carbon dioxide can be used, the raw gas must be treated to remove those impurities to acceptable levels, commonly by an amine gas treating process. The removed H₂S is most often subsequently converted to by-product elemental sulfur in a Claus process or it can be treated in a WSA Process unit where the by-product is sulfuric acid. Alternatively, the highly H2S concentrated gas, the by-product of the amine treatment plant, can be recompressed by compressor units specifically designed to handle highly toxic gas and injected in the reservoir. Such a solution was installed in the Sultanate of Oman and was successfully put in operation in about 1998.

Processes within oil refineries or natural gas processing plants that remove mercaptans and/or hydrogen sulfide are commonly referred to as sweetening processes because they result in products which no longer have the sour, foul odors of mercaptans and hydrogen sulfide.

Hydrogen sulfide is a toxic gas. It also places restrictions on the materials that can be used for piping and other equipment handling sour gas, as many metals are sensitive to sulfide stress cracking. The presence of hydrogen sulfide in gas causes lower quality burning and the production of sulfur dioxide, and so is regulated in commercially sold gas.

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